Bangladesh warned of food price concerns

FE Team | Published: November 21, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Amy Yee, FT Syndication Service
NEW DELHI: As relief teams in Bangladesh rush to help millions of people affected by last week's fierce cyclone, officials and aid agencies have warned that extensive crop damage and food price inflation threaten to deepen the widespread suffering.
Cyclone Sidr has damaged large swaths of productive agricultural land, according to government estimates. The storm struck just a few weeks before harvest, depriving scores of farmers of this year's income. The shrimp and fish industries have also been hurt.
"This is havoc for the agricultural sector," said Syed Ashraf, spokesman for Bangladesh's Disaster Management Bureau.
The death toll climbed to almost 2,500 last Monday, the bureau said. About 1,000 people are missing and the death toll is expected to rise to as many as 3,500 in the coming days.
About 2.7m people are estimated to have been affected by the storm.
The number of fatalities is far fewer than those caused by a devastating cyclone in 1991, which killed nearly 139,000. But some aid agencies fear that damage to crops and homes could prove to be worse than after the 1991 cyclone.
The destruction comes just months after monsoon floods ruined food crops in Bangladesh's northern region. Prices of some food staples such as grains, pulses, vegetables and oil have risen between 25 to 40 per cent in recent months, according to the United Nations World Food Programme.
The latest crop damage will "result in a second round of price escalation", said Usha Mishra, senior adviser to the WFP in Bangladesh. "The second onslaught looks rather serious. The food security situation has to be watched closely."
The annual average rate of inflation increased to 8.01 per cent in September from 7.78 per cent in August, said Bangladesh's central bank.
The cyclone wiped out 60 per cent of rice crops in the southern region of Bangladesh, said Mahabub Hossain, executive director of the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee (Brac).
For farmers and families who rely on one annual crop, "the issue is how these people will survive in the next one year", said Mr Hossain. "Employment generation for the landless is also a serious problem. The government needs to organise a rehabilitation programme around agriculture and infrastructure-building activities."
Brac, one of Bangladesh's largest microfinance and social services organisations, estimated that 150,000 houses had been washed away, with another 250,000 damaged.
However, Bangladesh's textile industry, a critical part of the country's exports, remains relatively unscathed. Textile hubs such as the city of Chittagong are away from where the cyclone struck last Thursday on Bangladesh's south-west coast, whipping up a five-metre tidal surge.
Donors including the European Union, Saudi Arabia, the UK and US have pledged aid for relief efforts.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed for $3.6m (euro 2.5m, £1.8m) to help 235,000 people over the next nine months.